Backup and Replication

Have any of the following happened to you?
•Lost precious data through a hard drive crash or user error?
•Had a fire or flood?
•Theft of your computer?
•Deleted the wrong files?
•Your backups were corrupt and can’t be restored?
•Lost or damaged your Laptop?
•Virus infected and destroyed your data?
•The person responsible for backups forgot to run it or was on vacation?
•Your equipment and data was damaged due to lightening or surge?
•Your data was corrupted due to a power outage?
•Your data was not accessible due to power outage?

Media backups can, and do fail. Yes, in today?s business world you can insure against just about any catastrophe. You can replace your stock, your premises, your cars and even your hardware almost overnight. But is your company data protected? What would happen if you lost all the data on your computers, servers, and backups?

Think about it. Data such as your current orders, invoices, tax details, accounts receivables, accounts payable, stock counts, work in progress, projects, images, quotes, client and supplier databases, and historical data that you have built up over the years ? all gone! How long would it take to organize and replace or re-enter all your personal and business data? Weeks? Months? Do you have the systems in place and the paper trail to allow for such a task? Is it even replaceable?

It takes approximately 20 days and thousands of dollars to retype just 20 Megabytes of sales and accounting data.

How will your clients react? Would your business survive?

Overview

Most businesses are put on the line daily. With businesses moving closer to paperless environments, the dependency on stored data is becoming much more critical but overlooked. For one reason or another, businesses don’t keep a regular backup regimen.

The general definition of “proper” backups requires redundancy. One must keep multiple copies of the same files at different points in their development, called versions. As an example, you should have a different copy of each backed-up file for each backup session. Further, you should be able to easily restore any of your files up to any given point in time. Banks do it, big corporations do it, and so should small businesses.

Benefits

Our Remote Backup Service accomplishes several essential steps that are often overlooked or done improperly by other backup software – especially in the regular non-automated backup systems:

1) Automation

The task is fully scheduled and automated and does not require manual intervention nor any maintenance

2) Data is live

Data remains live on the backup servers, unlike data on unreliable tape or optical media, that are expensive, require hours of maintenance, and have inherent weaknesses such as: data-corruption, misplacement, damage, requirement for safe on-site and off-site storage

3) Version control for up to 7 days

Seven days of data retained allowing for seven different versions of the same data

4) Security

All data is encrypted before being transferred off-site for complete security

5) Offsite Storage

Data is transferred and stored offsite for added protection from fire, flood, etc.

Peace of mind

Nology?s Remote Backup Service is a cost effective system designed to help ensure the continuation of your business by meeting or exceeding the essentials of a true backup – protecting critical data in the event of a disaster.

Installation is simple. You can choose to do it yourself from an online download, or one of our technicians can remotely install it for you. Setting up the files to backup and the schedules takes only a few minutes.

Once completed, our Remote Backup Service is completely automatic and doesn’t require maintenance. Forget its there and rest comfortably knowing your data will automatically backup, as often as you want, without intervention.

Fast data recovery is achieved by restoring all or part of your data, quickly and efficiently, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from anywhere Internet is available.

How it Works – Backing Up Stage

The Backup Client software is automated and keeps track of the date, time and type of the next backup, and “hides” on the System Tray without interfering with any other program. At a predetermined time, the Backup Client software “wakes up” and determines which files need backing up, and what kind of backup (out of three possibilities) is scheduled for that session. It then compresses those files into archives which are encrypted using an encryption key known only to the data owner. The software activates the Internet connection and contacts the remote server and sends its backup. Throughout the transfer, the data is automatically verified for integrity. After completion, the Backup Client returns to idle state until the next backup time.

How it Works – Restoring Data

Clients restore their data using an easy to understand user interface. On the Backup Client, simply pick the RESTORE option from the menu, tag the files to restore, and the restore begins.

Overview

1. Only an internet connection is required, eliminating the need for expensive backup equipment and media

2. Easy installation and setup

3. With complete automation, the data is copied to a central location

4. All files are protected by state of the art encryption, only the customer can retrieve their files

5. Fast online recovery of any of 7 versions of any protected file

6. The backup server is monitored by highly skilled technicians whose only job is to make sure the backups are performed without error

7. You can relax!

FastBIT Incremental Backups

The most efficient backup technology available today, FastBIT technology can accurately extract only the changes that you’ve made to a file since your last backup. This efficiency is achieved by using the powerful FastBIT difference engine to identify and extract the binary-level differences on two versions of any file. On average, FastBIT backups are more than 6 times smaller and faster than similar block technologies, which translates to using only 1/6 of the bandwidth and server storage space.

Silent Mode

The Backup Client now supports a Silent mode that will allow the program to run silently in the background without displaying any Windows or Task Bar icons.

Multiple Version Restoration

All users have instant access to restore any version of their data files. Although each incremental backup contains the small changed portions of the file, the server software has the capability of recovering any version of a file from the initial backup to the last incremental backup and EVERY version in between.

Event Manager

If a scheduled backup is missed, the next time the computer is started the Event Manager will display the missed event and allow the user to immediately perform the missed event. If a backup fails to complete successfully, the Event Manager will try the backup again when the computer is restarted or the Backup Client is executed. If a backup fails due to a network problem, the Event Manager will prompt the user to complete the backup at a later date.

E-mail Notification

The client software can be configured to send an e-mail to any user upon any successful backup or a backup with errors or warnings. A summary of the attempt is sent in the body of the message and the complete log file may be attached as an option.

Backup Sets

The Backup Client features the ability to create an unlimited number of backup sets. Since backup sets can be scheduled to run independently, a user can configure multiple backup sets to run at different times. For example, a backup set containing all data files can be configured to run at the end of each week and another backup set containing a single database file can be configured to run multiple times per day. All file versions will still be immediately available for the user to restore.

Advanced Encryption

All data is stored in an encrypted format and all communications between the client and server are encrypted. Users can choose between DES, Triple-DES and Blowfish encryption algorithms.

File Filters

Including or excluding files from the backup selection is possible with set filters that can be created manually or with an easy-to-use filter wizard. Filters can be created to include all data files on a users system to avoid hunting through a hard drive for all of the data files.

Enhanced Scheduling

Enhanced scheduling options have been added to the Backup Client software to help automate the backup process. The new scheduling capabilities allow users to configure backups at any time and multiple times per day.

System Tray Control

Upon installation, a small application is configured to run in your Windows System Tray. (The Windows System Tray is located at the bottom right-hand corner of your computer screen.) This application monitors the scheduling process and gives the end user quick access to a number of useful functions, including:
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Backup and Close – Run a backup and then close the application when finished.

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Backup and Logoff – Run a backup and logoff the system when finished.

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Backup and Shutdown – Run a backup and shutdown the system when finished.

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And more…

Log File Review and Printing

All backup and restore transactions are thoroughly logged on the client and the server. Users can quickly review and print the client logs.

Configurable 3rd Party Tools

The software supports the ability to run any 3rd party application’s before or after a backup or restore action. For instance, it can be configured to run a virus scanner before the backup and run a defragmentation utility after the backup. A virus scanner can also be configured to run after every restore process.

CPU Utilization

Since the FastBIT technology leverages the CPU power to get the great file reductions, it can be taxing on the processor. Since some backups are done while the user is working on the system and some backups are done after hours when the user is away, we allow the CPU utilization to be configured. Users can give the backup application all the processing power it needs, or make the backup application subordinate to other tasks

Frequently Asked Questions

Why remote backup?
Hard drive failure is inevitable and fire and theft are unpredictable. Look at the data on your hard drive and evaluate how long it would take you to replace this data. With this information at hand, it is extremely important that every individual and organization have a data backup plan in place. And, if you?re not keeping up with your backup schedule and taking a data set off-site at least weekly, then Remote Backup may be the right choice for you!

How is the data backed up?
A small piece of software is installed onto your computer or server that connects to our Remote Backup Servers on a preset schedule. When set to run, the software compresses, encrypts, and transmits the data securely across the Internet to our servers.

If the data is transferred through my Internet connection, how secure is it?
Very secure. All files are encrypted using Blowfish or DES encryption which is selected by the user with their own personal encryption code which is only known by the user of the system. Blowfish encryption has never been broken by a hacker, and DES is used by the federal banking system.

What is encryption?

Encryption is basically a mathematical formula that scrambles a data file. The only way to unscramble it is with the encryption code.

What if we already have a tape backup system?

Using a tape backup system and a remote backup system offers the best of both worlds. Critical files, like billing, customer contact files and databases can be kept on the remote backup system. The tape system can be used to create a full backup of the entire system once or twice a month, instead of on a daily basis. The tapes and drive will last longer and require less maintenance. The remote backup system can provide a quick and easy way to retrieve critical files and databases without the hassle of searching through tapes.

How long will a remote backup take?

Offices with high-speed internet connections should find this service comparable with tape drives. Dial up users will be able to do incremental backups in thirty to sixty minutes. The initial backup can take several hours to complete. We recommend backing up the most important files first and then selecting other files as the backup progresses. Or, the initial backup can be run over the weekend.

Why Are Remote Backups Considered More Beneficial?

The data is immediately stored off-site using an automated backup system, completely eliminating the need for expensive backup equipment and media. And, since the system is automated, manual labor is eliminated.

What happens when my computer crashes and I need to get the data back?
If you have a hard drive failure, fire, or theft, simply download from our site and re-install the Remote Backup software. Follow a few easy steps to get your data back onto your computer. It?s that easy!

Replication Overview
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Do you have a Business Continuity Plan?

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Do all of your servers have continuous data protection?

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If you’re email server or database server went down, would your employees be sitting around unproductive for hours?

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In a data outage, would your customers move to a vendor with better up-time capabilities?

Nology Solutions’ Replication System is an affordable way to ensure continuous data protection. The system automatically mirrors data between existing servers or off-site servers, maintaining enterprise-wide data consistency using existing networks and the Internet. Data is mirrored as it changes in semi real-time, regardless of the amount of storage or type of hardware. A remote data mirror is maintained on one or more remote servers, depending on the requested service level.

Replication is maximized by mirroring only data that’s changing, allowing for significantly less server CPU utilization than scheduled replication, backups, or synchronous mirroring. This allows server resources to become available for other applications.

Whether using local hosts or across the Internet, automatic real-time synchronization of mission critical data can be achieved.

One or more mirror images of critical content are secured online and available anywhere on a network (LAN, MAN, or WAN), regardless of network latency or distance between replicas.

Automatic Failover

Since online replicas of data remain on a hot-standby server, readily available and verifiable, recovery times from unplanned outages are minimized. When combined with a cluster manager, recovery becomes automatic.

As your business migrates to the next level where data availability is critical, let Nology Solutions provide investment protection and a solid foundation for your future.